Nutrition food products flying off the shelves | Economic Times

Immunity and nutrition-based food products saw a record surge in demand during April and May, higher than discretionary or indulgence products, companies and retailers said.Offtake of in-home consumption of hygiene-related products such as sanitisers has, however, declined since people are hardly stepping out due to prolonged lockdown-like restrictions across states, leading brands to defocus on these categories, they said.“There is a permanent reset with heightened consumer needs for healthy foods, hygiene and immunity-boosting products,” said Sanjay Mishra, the chief operating officer at Marico. “On the other hand, discretionary products that are related to out-of-home movement are seeing softer demand as consumers are increasingly home-bound,” Mishra added.Companies are ramping up production, blocking capacities for raw material and increasing marketing spends for categories such as chyawanprash, oats, honey, health-juices, nutrition powders, coconut water amid the second Covid-19 wave.They are deprioritising manufacturing of hygiene-related products such as hand sanitisers, specialised vegetable washes and sanitisers for gadgets.Immunity remains the big draw across channels, said retail executives. “Natural health drinks, chyawanprash, multivitamin gummies and kadha have become part of regular consumption and routine buying now. The last one year has seen inclusion of many forms of immunity products,” said Devendra Chawla, managing director at Spencer’s Retail and Nature’s Basket, which operates 200 retail stores across the country.Dabur India, which added Rs 500 crore in revenue to its health supplements business in the previous financial year, expects the momentum to continue incrementally in the June quarter, even as it defocuses on sanitisers.“Demand for Ayurveda-based healthcare and immunity boosting products including chyawanprash, honey and the ayurvedic immunity-building portfolio continues to grow at a steady pace with the second wave,” said Dabur India chief executive Mohit Malhotra. “In contrast, with consumer demand for sanitising products dropping, we have reduced focus on this category,” Malhotra added.Senior executives said the shift in consumption preferences is intrinsic and will sustain in the long term. They are ensuring no stock-outs of supplies to cater to this higher demand.Nutrilite maker Amway has proactively blocked capacities with suppliers to ensure consistent supplies of raw material required to meet growing demand of its nutrition franchise, said Amway India chief executive Anshu Budhraja.